Caption: Student taking online class from home.
STUDENTS ACROSS THE NATION LEFT UNCERTAIN ABOUT THE FUTURE OF EDUCATION AS THE PANDEMIC INTRODUCES ONLINE MEDIUM OF LEARNING, NATIONWIDE STUDENT PROTESTS AGAINST UNIVERSITIES’ MANAGEMENT OCCUR TO VOICE THEIR CONCERNS.
Caption: Students protest against on campus exams.
https://twitter.com/DWMOfficial/status/1355131710149689346?s=20
The Higher Education Commission (HEC) launched its first statement regarding the continuation of educational activities amidst the COVID-19 pandemic stating that all educational activities are to take a 3-week break as a precautionary measure. If these circumstances prevail, all activities will be conducted through the online medium. (March 18, 2020/Islamabad)
More than 10 months have gone by since and the state of education in Pakistan along with the rest of the world due to this pandemic has been left uncertain and perplexed. The decision to the question, “To be online or offline?” is causing conundrums not only for the students, but also the authorities as this has been the subject of various meetings held within the HEC. However, the anxiety and unrest built up within the student body of the nation has taken the matter in its own hands as various university students conduct peaceful protests outside their respective institutions by presenting their demands in order to save their futures.
One of such protests took place outside LUMS by its student body as they demanded their campus be opened for all following Feb 1st. The students believed that online classes lead to negligible fruition which was not worth paying a heavy fee.
Following the guidelines for campus access resumption issued by the HEC, the university management had issued a notification allowing campus access to out-of-station students however, it was cancelled shortly for reasons unknown.
The criticism and demands put forth by the students however, have been accepted to some extent by the management as the campus is now open to accommodate 30% of the students for on-campus classes.
Unfortunately, not every student protest has been met with peaceful responses and decisions by the opposing parties. The student body of the University of Central Punjab (UCP) conducted a protest against on-campus examinations on 26th Jan’21 outside the university campus in Lahore. The students questioned the hypocrisy of educating online and examining offline as they believed that the online medium of education failed to teach successfully which would render them unable to perform well in offline exams. The demands of the students were responded to by the authorities in the form of police brutality as the students were subjected to the baton-charge for exercising their right to form peaceful assemblies/protests. Even though the current Federal Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training, Mr. Shafqat Mehmood responded to these nation-wide student protests with a tweet on the 27th Jan’21 confirming that the decision of physical exams lied within the hands of the university management, four students who were known to have participated in the protest were arrested the following morning from their homes abruptly and transported to an undisclosed location. The hashtag #ReleaseStudents was used all over social media to express sentiments as more students poured out into protests throughout the nation that were held in solidarity with the arrested students.
Following these events, the students at Habib University in Karachi participated recently in an online poll posted on the university’s Facebook group when asked of their preferred mode of education.
The students’ concerns about campus access had been communicated to the management throughout the fall semester’20. Consequently, the Hyflex mode of education was introduced, allowing campus access to those who were in need of an encouraging and well-equipped environment as well as those who needed physical classes for courses with a practical approach.
Following 1st feb’21, the freshmen and senior batches will have daily campus access while sophomore and junior batches will be allowed access according to their class schedules.
Whilst the HEC has released its approval for online examinations and on-campus resumption of activities following the concerns raised by students, some institutions continue to stand by their repressive policies that permit police brutality be subjected onto their student body instead of reevaluating them to accommodate the students as well as possible. Regardless, it is evident that this issue will not cease to exist anytime soon as the struggle to secure our futures persists until we achieve triumph over the pandemic.
References:
1) Gabol, Imran. “Agitation against on-Campus Exams: Many Students Injured in Lahore as Varsity Guards Mount Baton-Charge Assault.” DAWN, 27 Jan. 2021, https://www.dawn.com/news/1603812/agitation-against-on-campus-exams-many-students-injured-in-lahore-as-varsity-guards-mount-baton-charge-assault
2) “STEPS AFOOT TO AVOID EDUCATIONAL LOSS OF STUDENTS AMIDST CORONA CRISIS.” Higher Education Commission, 19 Mar. 2020, https://www.hec.gov.pk/english/news/news/Pages/Corona-Crisis.aspx
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